Aperture photo Library?

[tlinford]

I have recently installed Aperture onto my MacBook. When I started it up, I said 'yes' create an aperture library from my existing iPhoto library. I then watched in some dismay as Aperture then proceed to 'clobber' my hard drive.

I then restored my library as original... having wasted an hour! I was suffering from the delusion that iPhoto and Aperture would share libraries .... mainly because when I asked in the store, "does iPhoto and Aperture share libraries"? the sales person said "yes they do", rather than "I don't understand the question, what do you mean?"

I guess I want the best of both worlds. Using iPhoto for most things, Aperture for when I want to get serious.

I would then only want to import from iPhoto, stuff I want to get down and dirty with (so to speak) !!!!!!

Question: Is it possible to tell aperture to set-up it's library on an external HD, I would use iPhoto for mobility, and Aperture from home? If so how?

 

[SteinMaster]

Aperture will allow you to import your iPhoto pics at least two different ways. You can import iPhoto images as referenced images or images managed by Aperture. If you import as referenced images, the originals stay in your iPhoto library and you will not have duplicate images (taking up double the HDD space and banging away at your HDD). If you choose to import images as referenced, Aperture references the master iPhoto image and enables you to adjust using Aperture. Aperture then saves a Version of the iPhoto master image in Aperture. If you import using "managed by Aperture", a copy of the iPhoto image is copied into Aperture. I imported my iPhoto images as referenced images so I could use Aperture on them without doubling storage space on my HDD. All my iPhoto master images are stored in iPhoto library. Do not import from the initial Aperture log-in screen. Click "Use Aperture" without importing anything. Once in Aperture, choose the import icon in the top menu bar. Select your iPhoto library and make sure you choose "In their current location" in the Store files menu box on the right-hand side of the import screen.

You can also view iPhoto images in Aperture and view Aperture images in iPhoto. Go to "File" then "Show iPhoto Browser" in Aperture menu bar. The menu command is the same in Iphoto.

 

[maflynn]

Question: Is it possible to tell aperture to set-up it's library on an external HD, I would use iPhoto for mobility, and Aperture from home? If so how?

You can't. iPhoto and Aperture have two different library structures. Since Aperture has more tools, and abilities, I recommend going completely over to that application. You can use that both for your desktop and mobile computing. That way you'll be able to easily move images from your laptop to your desktop.

 

[SteinMaster]

rt from iPhoto, stuff I want to get down and dirty with (so to speak) !!!!!!

Question: Is it possible to tell aperture to set-up it's library on an external HD, I would use iPhoto for mobility, and Aperture from home? If so how?[/QUOTE]

You can have your images on an external drive and still have Aperture read the images and make changes. This is referred to as "referencing" the images. Your Aperture library stays on your internal HDD and is used for all "managed files". If you want, you can have all original images referenced and never have an image in your Aperture library. I would recommend reading the Aperture User Manual. Chapter 4 explains how you can import images in Aperture and keep the master images on another drive (not in the Aperture library on your internal HDD). You can do this for all your iPhoto images. Here is the link to the Aperture User Manual.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Aperture_2_User_Manual.pdf